1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for compressing and shaping comestible products.
2. Prior Art
Food products, including meat, potatoes and like products, for example, fish, poultry, ground meat, sirloins, short ribs, knuckles, etc., are often pressed into blocks or loaves of desired density and shape, typically while frozen or semi-frozen, for subsequent processing, such as, slicing into pieces of generally uniform size, shape and weight. Presses for this purpose have utilized relatively movable opposed die members which when closed form a tubular aperture closed at one end and within which the product is compressed by a ram reciprocable in the other end of the tubular aperture. In such prior art devices, however, the closed end of the tubular aperture and the side of the ram facing the closed end were planar surfaces at right angles to the length of the die aperture and in turn the path of movement of the ram with the result that the ends of the compressed product, sometimes referred to as blocks or loaves, were square, that is, normal to the length of the block or loaf.